Snapchat on Friday informed U.S. regulators that it has raised $537 million in a new round of equity funding that could climb as high as $650 million.

The vanishing-message service did not disclose who bought stakes in the Los Angeles-based company, which came at a price estimated to give Snapchat a value of more than $15 billion, according to media reports.

Google announced Friday that it is working with iconic US jean maker Levi Strauss to make clothing from specially woven fabric with touch-screen control capabilities.

The Internet titan used its annual developers conference in San Francisco to reveal its so-called Project Jacquard and to spotlight Levi Strauss as its first partner.

Apple has bought a company that makes augmented-reality software, which adds information or images to real-world scenes when viewed through a special headset or even a smartphone camera.

It's the latest sign that major tech companies see big potential for products that let users view the world with extra features added by technology. Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft are all working on augmented- or virtual-reality products. Augmented reality can add hand-drawn sketches, navigational directions, historic video or computer-generated, three-dimensional images to a real-world scene. Virtual reality can make viewers feel as if they are immersed in an artificial world.

Google's updated Android mobile software seeks to make the smartphone smarter, while keeping the search titan relevant in a world where people rely on apps on the go.

At its annual Google developers conference Thursday, Google offered a preview of Android M, due for release later this year, with an upgraded version of "Google Now," the voice-activated assistant which competes with rivals like Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana.

A newly-discovered glitch in Apple's software can cause iPhones to mysteriously shut down when they receive a certain text message.

Apple says it's aware of the problem and is working on a fix. But some pranksters are sharing information about the glitch on social media and using it to crash other peoples' phones.

Scientists on Wednesday said they had created a small robot that can recover from damage, in a step towards machines that mimic the remarkable adaptive powers of humans and animals.

The feat could one day lead to first-responder robots which can cope with dangers that today would put them out of operation, they said.

General Motors said Wednesday it will offer Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in more of its Chevrolet models next year, as tech firms seek to expand their reach in the auto world. 

The smartphone-compatible systems will be offered in 14 models, including the soon-to-be-released Cruze compact car, GM said in a statement. 

Germany on Wednesday started an auction of frequencies for mobile phone operators, pledging that users will soon enjoy nationwide super-fast 4G coverage without "black holes" in rural areas.

The government hopes in coming weeks to raise billions of euros as it sells off the frequencies to the three big providers, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica Deutschland and Vodafone.

Data from smartphones and Twitter can accurately show the size of a crowd, helping first responders in an emergency, a study on Wednesday said.

Scientists at England's University of Warwick devised a computer model based on data from Twitter and from phone companies in Milan, northern Italy.

The chief of vanishing-image service Snapchat on Tuesday said the company has a plan for going public with an offering of stock but did not reveal when it might happen.

"We need to IPO, we have a plan to do that,” chief executive officer Evan Spiegel said on-stage at a Code Conference in California when asked about the potential for an initial public offering of stock.